The Protector
by Connor285
Summary: Steve Witchinson is a kid who attends Dragon Training. He is constantly bullied by other kids for his scrawny and skinny body. He lives with his mom and isn't very good at Dragon Training. One day, he meets a Firedrake dragon, and he accepts him into his
1. Introduction

The name is Steve, Steve Witchinson. I'm about five feet three, and only ten years old. I'm part of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, here on Berk. I love dragons, except for the Monstrous Nightmare, I love studying them and I look at the Book of Dragons constantly. I currently attend dragon training school with my other mates, taught by the Dragon Riders. My hair color is deep brown and I have eerie red eyes, which is kind of weird. I have a short nose and kind of a crooked mouth. I live with my mom, Linda Witchinson. I wear a red shirt, with black pants, and black, leather like boots. I'm scrawny and skinny. My dad was killed by a Monstrous Nightmare by accident. But, I don't believe that. I think it was on purpose. I've always despised Nightmares since then. Everyone makes fun of me because of my size. I always wished I had a protector, who would scare them off. But, one day, I met the rarest dragon of them all, a Firedrake dragon. My life changed forever after that.


	2. Dragon Training

"Hey, Steve, wake up, it's time of Dragon Training class", my mom yelled at me from my room. "OK", I yelled back. I was so excited for Dragon Training class that I could hardly contain myself. I hurriedly ate down breakfast, said goodbye to mom and ran out the door. I hurried to the arena, where the Dragon Riders were already there to teach us. I was the first kid there, and the riders said hi to me and I said hi back. Then, one of my bullies, Richard, walked through the gate. He smiled when he saw me, and then he yelled "Hey, who let the runt in?". Before I could say anything, Astrid, one of the Riders, yelled for him to shut up and sit down. Eventually, everybody got here and we all sat down. Hiccup then got up in the front of the class and said, "OK everybody, today we will be learning about the classes of dragons". I told myself that this would be easy because I read the Book of Dragons so many times. "OK, so who can tell me about the Stoker Class?". Immediately, my hand shot up and I said " Stoker Class dragons are hotheaded fire breathers, and most of them are capable of setting themselves on fire. All dragons in this class are immune to fire.". He then asked me to name a dragon in this class, to which I replied "Fireworms". Another one of the bullies, Randy, piped up and yelled to me " Hey, what about the Monstrous Nightmare?"? I knew he was trying to spite me, and I ignored them. Snotlout then asked me to show how to properly approach the Nightmare. I got up and slowly approached Hookfang, his dragon, with my hand out. I then accidentally tripped over a shield that was lying in the way, and accidentally slapped Hookfang in the nose in the progress. He went crazy, spewing fire everywhere in the process, then tried to attack me, seeing me as a threat, but Snotlout stopped me before he could do so. Everyone laughed at me, espically Richard and Randy. Hiccup then said that training was over and then told everybody to leave, except me. Hiccup then made Hookfang apolgize to me in dragon laungage, and he nuzzled me for a little bit before I left him there. I was a trainwreck, and I didn't know what to do.

Later on that night, I was praying to the gods, hoping for a better day tommorow, when my mom came in. "Hey, Steve, whats going on?"? I told mom about my day, from Randy and Richard bullying me to the incident with the Monstrous Nightmare, to Hiccup making him apologize to me. She then told me " Don't worry, tommorow would be better". I danm hoped she was right. Tommorow came in a jiffy, and in no time, I was heading back to the arena for another class. Everybody came eventually, and we started. Hicuup then said that today, they would talk about the other classes, which included Boulder, Fear, Sharp, Tidal, Strike, and Mystery. We flew through the first five classes, but stopped when we got to Mystery. We talked about some of the other dragons, which included the Zippleback, Changewing, and others among it. We spent more time on this, since it was very hard. But, when we were done, I noticed something. He didn't mention the Firedrake, which was a extremely rare dragon that shows no mercy. I raised my hand and Hiccup called on me and I said "Hiccup, what about the Firedrake?"? He thanked me for reminding him about that and we started talking about it. He told us that the Firedrake was an extremely rare dragon that was known to be extinct, but they werent sure about it. He then told us that you ever were to see one, run away as far as you could because they would kill you if they saw you. He also said that they were very protective of whoever they befriended, but it was very rare to befriend one, for no human had ever done it. When we were done, Richard and Randy approached me and they looked angry. I assumed that they were looking for some reason to try and beat me up because that was there favorite hobby. I tried to walk away but Randy grabbed me and shoved me to the ground. They started kicking me and punching me, until they heard a roar and stopped. Toothless had come to my rescue and chased them away. He then helped me to Gothi, who said I had a couple of bruises, but nothing serious. That night, I lay in bed, hoping that tommorrow, I would finally meet my protector.


	3. The Cove & The Firedrake

The Cove is the place that I go when I need some peace and quiet after a long day. Its embedded into the ground and you can access it by a path that goes through the small entrance. I was feeling sore after Richard and Randy had beat me up, so instead of heading home, I went to The Cove for some peace and quiet. When I got there, I sat on a log that was molding, and thought about my miserable life. I was slowly failing Dragon Training and I was getting harassed by my bullies. I thought things couldn't get any worse, I was wrong. At that moment, I heard a ferocious roar and turned around in fear to see a stray Monstrous Nightmare staring me down. Immediately, my fear turned to anger as I thought about my dad, and forgot what Hiccup had us promise before we entered class, that I wouldn't kill a dragon. I whipped out my ax in defense and stared the creature down, he was pissed for some reason that I didn't know of. I ran towards the creature, but he overpowered me easily. He pinned me down with this right foot and my anger turned to fear as he prepared to kill me. That's when I heard it, the loudest and most ferocious roar ever. One that shook the earth, and made it crack. This extremely large shadow dived from the top of the cliff and tackled the Monstrous Nightmare. I couldn't see anything, I was blinded with tears from fear. I heard whatever it was fighting the Nightmare, then I heard the same roar and the flapping of wings, indicating that whatever that thing was, it scared the Nightmare off. I was still in shock from what had happened and could barely manage to stand up. That's when I realized that I was shaking very badly. I turned around to see it staring at me, the Firedrake.

The creature was medium sized, had gray scales, and red wings. The creature also had red eyes, like me and had spikes/horns extending from it's head to tail. It also had talons all around his wings and had very sharp claws on his feet. It stared me down and it looked mad. I was frozen in fear, and he approached me carefully. I didn't know how to approach him, since it wasn't in Hiccup's dragon training class. I then remembered the fish I had brought in case I got hungry, and held it out to him. In an instant, he gobbled it up. That's when I did what Hiccup had taught me, and I held out my hand to him and closed my eyes, hoping for the best. A few seconds later, I felt his rough scales brush my hand. I couldn't believe my luck. I had befriended a Firedrake, something a human has never done. I also couldn't believe how easy it was, either. I felt no longer fearful, but relaxed, knowing that he wouldn't hurt me. That's when I realized that it was sunset. I ran towards the exit, and tried to tell him to stay, he seemed to understand and stayed. My mom asked me where I had been, and I told her that I had been in the cove and lost track of time, but decided not to tell her about the Firedrake. When I got in bed, I sat, thinking about him. I thought that this wasn't going to last long and that he would be gone the next day, little did I know that our adventure was just starting.


	4. Defensive Dragon

The next day, I decided to skip Dragon Training, and go straight to The Cove. I was surprised to see that the Firedrake was still there. When he saw me, he warbled a hello. I went down into the cove and immediately, he went for the basket of fish I had brought him for breakfast. I moved, and dumped the basket in front of him. I proceeded to watch him eat. While he was eating, I sat there, drawing in the dirt. I wasn't a very good drawer. When he was done, he came over to me and watched what I was doing. I decided to call him Darkdrum, after his dark scales, and his drum like warbling. He seemed to like the idea. That's when I heard my name in the distance, it sounded like Hiccup. They had decided to send a search party for me. I was worried for Darkdrum's safety and tried to ask him to go hide in the trees. He understood me, and climbed the wall, and fled into the woods. Hiccup and Toothless appeared at the entrance, and looked mad at me that I skipped class. He walked down the path and Toothless jumped in. " Why are you in the cove?", he asked me. I told him that I skipped class because I wanted to be alone, but he didn't seem to care. He demanded that I come back, and I followed him back. My parents also scolded me, telling me that they were so worried, and that I could have been anywhere. They then made me go to my room. I was mad at this point and wanted to go back to calm myself down. So, in the middle of the night, while everyone else was asleep, I sneaked into the cove, but Darkdrum wasn't there. That's when I heard a voice. " So, what are you doing here?". I turned around, it was Richard, him and Randy must have followed me from the cave. They approached me, and I turned to run away, only to run into one of the corners of the square cove. I was trapped. They didn't care for my answer and Richard punched me in the stomach, making me fall down in pain. Then, he and Randy decided to beat me up again. They punched and kicked me, I screamed for help. A ferocious roar answered me, it was Darkdrum! He had heard my call! He landed and roared at the pair who was beating me up, an extremely angry look in his eyes. I ran around the bullies and by his side, scared to death, but now calm, knowing that they couldn't touch me while he was here. The two cowered in fear. They threatened to tell Hiccup and Stoick about this. I had to stop them, for I was the one who wanted to tell him.

With Darkdrum, we flew and picked the two up and put them in a tree. They screamed for help. I smiled at the pair's faces, full of fear. I made them promise that if I let them down, they wouldn't tell on me about him. In fear, they promised that they wouldn't do it. We picked them up and dropped them on the ground, them running away. Then, I got off of him, thanked him for saving me and said goodbye. The next morning, it was business as usual. It was breakfast, then Dragon Training, go to Darkdrum and feed him and play with him, then go back to Berk and sleep. In the middle of the night, I woke up and couldn't sleep because I was so excited to tell Hiccup about him, so I went outside and walked around the village. Then, I saw them, the two bullies, leaning on their home, talking to each other. I passed them and went to the Great Hall. It was empty, of course. I sat on one of the tables, and pulled out my version of the Book of Dragons, and skipped to the Firedrake page, and started to draw them. Then, the two boys came in, and saw me. Immediately, they ran after me. I managed to dodge one of them, but the other knocked me into a table, giving me a concussion in the progress. I was still conscious, so they stated to punch me and kick me as hard as they could, as payback for setting my dragon on them. I wearily tried to say help, but one of them kicked me in the nose, giving me a bloody nose. I couldn't do anything about it, and they just kept it coming. Suddenly, an extremely loud roar, and a thunderous crashing sound was heard. In blurrs, I saw the front wall of the Great Hall get knocked into the room. The punches and kicks stopped as I heard the flapping of wings, the sound and heat of fire, and the screams of the two guys as they ran out the hole in fear. Darkdrum had somehow heard my feeble cry, and came to save me. He saw me in my state and started shaking in anger. Next, I heard more flapping of wings, and realized the Dragon Riders had heard the roar of Darkdrum, and came to see what was going on. They saw me, and they assumed that Darkdrum did it! They immediately began to attack him, trying to get near me to get me out of there. That's when I fainted and I knew no more.


	5. Free Him

I woke up, my head hurting very bad as I sat up in my bed. My mom immediately hugged me and I pushed her away, saying that that hurt. She told me that I had a concussion, a half broken nose, and bruises on my arms and legs from the "attack". I asked what happened to the Firedrake, I couldn't say his real name, otherwise they would know he's mine. They told me that he got captured, and he was going to be killed by Stoick in the dragon training ring. Immediately, I ran out of my house and to the dragon arena as fast as I could. There, I saw Darkdrum, chained and beaten. When he saw me looking at me, he immediately perked up. I ran to him and hugged him and he nuzzled me. He looked scared and I couldn't let anyone kill him, he didn't hurt me, he never would. I had to come up with a plan to get him free. Then, I knew what I had to do, I had to stop Stoick.

A few hours later, everyone headed to the arena to watch Stoick kill the beast, I ended up next to Hiccup and Astrid. They both asked me how I was feeling. I told them I was feeling fine, but a little dizzy. They both nodded in understanding. That's when Stoick arrived, carrying a sword in his hands. He got into the arena and spoke to us " We have come together to kill this beast, who has hurt and almost killed one of our little ones. He gestured towards me. He then raised his sword to kill the giant beast. That's when I rushed into the arena, and stood between Stoick and Darkdrum. He seemed surprised as I said "You can't kill him!"! Stoick seemed surprised and shocked that I would do such a thing. He asked me why he couldn't kill it. I then said that he didn't touch me. Stoick then asked me "If he didn't do it, then who did?"? I paused at that question and didn't answer. I couldn't rat them out, I just couldn't. He then smiled and laughed, then pushed me out of the way. I grabbed a battle ax, and clanged his sword against my ax, then pushed him back with all my strength. I then tripped him and pointed my ax at him. " You can't kill him", I repeated. Stoick knocked the ax out of the hand and stared at me menacingly. "Get out", he said, angrily. I was frozen to my spot, and that's when he got angrier. "I SAID GET OUT!"!, he angrily screamed at me. I had never seen Stoick that angry. My eyes welled into tears and I ran out of the arena, bawling my eyes out in the process. I ran to the cove, and sat on the log with my head in my lap. Everything was ruined. They were going to kill Darkdrum, and now, Stoick had ran me out of the village. "Hey, man", I suddenly heard in front of me. I looked up and saw Randy and Richard staring at me. "What do you two want?"?, I asked them. They told me they didn't want anything, but came to see how I was doing, and to tell me thank you for not ratting us out, and to say sorry for bullying me. I accepted their apology, and I stood up. We didn't know what to do, when suddenly, we heard a loud roaring in the distance. We asked each other what that was, we all didn't know. We ran out of the hole, to see that, in the distance, a Red Death had somehow found it's way to Berk, and was attacking the village. We could hear the roaring, and the crackling fire from here. Suddenly, I had an idea. I told them we were going back to Berk, and we were freeing Darkdrum, and then we would kill the Red Death.


	6. The Battle

We ran through the forest, as fast as our ten and eleven year old legs could carry us. We reached the village faster than expected. "So, what's your plan for getting past that thing?"?, Randy looked up, in awe at the dragon that was destroying a house. He didn't see us coming, so we really didn't need a plan. He sneaked past him effectively, and literally ran to the arena, to see Darkdrum still there, in chains, hoping someone would see him. We hurried into the arena, and he saw us. He let us approach him carefully, and tried to break him free, but couldn't seem to do it. Then, I felt a large hand grab my shoulder and throw me backwards, it was Stoick. He immediately went for the chains surrounding him and pulled them off with ease. Immediately after being set free, he rushed over to see if I was alright, which I was. He literally threw me on his back. Before we could take off, Stoick grabbed my hand. "I'm sorry for freaking out back there, I was just mad that you were defending him.", he said in remorse. I said back to him, "That's OK.". He then told me to go get him, and to save the village. Immediately, we took off into then night sky, flipped around and did a diving attack. His focus turned to us as we flew around him. I then noticed that Astrid and her Nadder, Stormfly, had gotten caught and they were being sucked in. I wasn't going to let him do that to one of my friends, so we flipped around to do another diving attack, when I had an idea. I jumped up onto him and he did the attack, spraying the beast with black fire, making the beast let go of her. She got disconnected from her dragon, so I jumped off of him, and grabbed Astrid's arm and we landed on top of a house. She didn't have time to say thank you, for Darkdrum dropped off Stormfly seconds later, and I jumped on top of him and we took off again. By now, I could hear everyone cheering by this point, telling me to get him. Immediately, we dive bombed him again, but we rammed him into a nearby house, crushing it in the process. He was extremely mad by this point. He lifted up into the air, following us as we went higher and higher by the second, then we dived, heading for the ground. He prepared to attack us and kill us. But, we fired his black fire into his mouth, which made his wings tear up. He crashed into the ground, a little out side the village and exploded, sending black fire through the village. We flew up as fast as we could, but the tail rammed us. "DARKDRUM!", I screamed as I fell flipping over and over again into the fire. The last thing I saw was Darkdrum, then darkness.


	7. Aftermath

When I finally woke, it was daytime, and Darkdrum was there, sitting beside me as he watched me awake. When he saw me open my eyes, he immediately started running around the house in happiness, until my mom came through the door and saw me awake. She ran to me and hugged me, thankful that I had survived. The next ones to come to me were Richard and Randy, who both hugged me, asking me how I was, and how I was feeling. I asked them what had happened in the days between the battle and now. They told me it was actually winter now, and that I had been knocked out for 4 months. They also told me that Darkdrum didn't manage to save all of me, that my right knee down to my foot, had been burned off in the fire afterwards. I took off the covers to see that they were right. My lower half of my right leg wasn't there, and was replaced with a rod that had gears so I could bend it. I got up off the bed and Darkdrum helped me to the door. I opened the door to see Berk covered in snow. It was still early morning, so the sun had barely risen. I went to the Great Hall to find Hiccup and Toothless there early, reading and updating the Book of Dragons. When Toothless saw me, he ran over to me, but carefully started licking my face, happy that I didn't die. Hiccup smiled at me and I sat down, with Darkdrum. As the morning progressed, more and more people came through the Great Hall and congratulated me for my job four months ago, and that they were happy that I was still alive. That's when my two new friends, Richard and Randy motioned for me to join them and our dragons. Richard and Randy both had Monstrous Nightmares, but I didn't mind or cared for that matter. Since then, life on Berk has been great for us and our dragons.


End file.
